Opportunities for Cooperation between Estonia and ... - Valitsus

APPENDIX 14
AUDIOVISUAL AREA
It is important to keep up with developments in worldwide competition and
to recognize one’s own potential in the international field. One area with good
potential for cooperation between Estonia and Finland is the modern film and
audiovisual (AV) industry.
Individually, Estonia and Finland are not large enough to compete with other
countries in providing products that cover all parts of the modern AV chain.
Estonian-Finnish joint film productions have yielded good experiences. By
combining resources, Finland and Estonia could be competitive in a number of
specific services, such as the digital editing of films and TV programmes, with
the potential for selling these services internationally. Our common neighbour,
Russia, has the fastest-growing AV industry market in the world at present and
in St Petersburg, for instance, the market is already suffering from a shortage
of technical services.
It would be advisable to consider setting up a joint regional film foundation
for Helsinki and Tallinn for the purpose of providing post-production services
efficiently and thus attracting international film teams to our countries. This
foundation would fund film projects that use the services of companies in
Estonia and Finland participating in this scheme. There are already some 30
regional film foundations in Europe; successful models may be found at least
in Denmark, Finland and Sweden (POEM Foundation, FILM I VÄST, FilmFyn,
etc.).
Estonia and Finland could set up a joint Film Commission for mediating local
services to international buyers and for finding suitable international film
projects to use those services. A model for this concept may be found in the
Öresund Film Commission, which is already in place combining the potential of
the film industries in Copenhagen and southern Sweden and marketing their
services.
Estonia and Finland are already known as innovative countries in several areas
of new media and communications. Achieving a joint Estonian-Finnish film and
AV cluster would help focus know-how in both countries and better motivate
its development. It would also yield new perspectives on the development of
local cinema and enable international participation in the creative industries.
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